


Supernova

by kayura_sanada



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Happy, Happy Stony!!, M/M, Protective!Steve, Rumors, TV News, That's Right It's Happy For Once, protective!tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 03:23:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8781193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayura_sanada/pseuds/kayura_sanada
Summary: Rumors about the details of their relationship have been circulating ever since Steve Rogers and Tony Stark brought their relationship out to the public.





	

Four months ago, he and Steve had come out to the media about their relationship. Despite the fact that they’d been together for three months before that, there were, of course, rumors. Plenty of homophobes came out of the woodwork, mostly horrified that their precious All-American hero was gay. (“Bi,” Steve would correct them, but no one listened – unless they thought the term even worse.) Plenty more made up clandestine meetings, secret liaisons, other romances in the Avengers that most certainly did not exist. A couple made dark stories about Tony the Devil turning Steve over to the dark side. These were mostly the homophobes.

But somewhere in there, some strange, fake ‘truth’ had come out, and no amount of letting things blow over could make the rumor disappear. And so, while the other rumors had finally begun to dwindle into nothing, that one, that one simply became the world’s idea of reality.

But it was a stupid rumor, so who cared?

* * *

Steve blinked. “What?”

The hostess of the morning show, a Miss Diane Brokeridge, leaned forward in her plush red seat, her entire demeanor changing into something feral as she scented a hot scene. “Are you saying you haven’t heard? Everyone’s very happy for you.”

Tony looked over to Steve, quietly surprised, as well. When the woman had congratulated Steve on Tony's 'remarkable recovery,’ Tony had been ready to smile politely and change the subject, as usual. How could Steve not have heard? Tony couldn’t go outside without someone saying something about his 'improved health,’ after all. He’d thought Steve, like him, had let the comments just roll off him.

A foolish assumption, of course, now that he thought about it. Steve never just let anything 'roll off.’

Steve’s frown only grew as he took in Tony’s expression. “You knew people were saying this? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tony shrugged, though he tried desperately with his gaze to send Steve a silent message to _let it go_ for now. “I thought you knew. It’s been a rather common sentiment since people learned about us.”

Steve sputtered. On national television. “Tony, we’ve been public for over four months!”

They never should have agreed to this meeting, no matter how well the bad rumors had died down. Tony glanced around the room. Everyone was leaning forward, even the cameramen. They were nearly slavering at the chance to catch a superhero lover’s spat. Which was the very last thing they either wanted or needed. Talk about fuel to a dying fire. Another look at Steve, however, said that the man wasn’t willing to let it go. He closed his eyes for an instant before straightening his shoulders and facing his lover head-on. “I honestly thought you knew,” he said, keeping his voice steady.

Perhaps it was the repetition that finally caught Steve’s attention. Perhaps it was the squeak of Diane’s chair as their hostess scooted forward in anticipation. Perhaps Steve finally remembered where he was, or caught the predatory stares. Or perhaps, most likely, Steve had simply chosen to turn his anger on those who’d instigated it in the first place.

Or, he thought, stunned, as Steve turned his face to one of the cameras, perhaps this was just Steve’s honest reaction to the rumor, and he was doing his usual thing of acting first and ruminating on the consequences later.

“Tony Stark,” Steve said, then seemed to remember the advice Tony had given him the first time Steve had gone out to face the media after waking and turned to Diana, “has chosen to control his drinking himself. His last scene was years ago, and came during a period of great personal tragedy," he said, leaving off the whole 'thought he was dying' thing. "And he is not a child who needs to be tricked and cajoled into eating. I know you aren’t even talking about an eating disorder, though, if you were, your assumptions, the way you act as if I would somehow be forcing Tony into certain decisions, would be even worse.” Steve raised a single hand, somehow captivating the entire room with just that simple gesture. “The most Tony has ever done is skip meals, and that’s something I’m more guilty of than him. He has Fri… an alarm system set up to tell him when to eat if he’s been working too long, and keeps constant count of his BAC. More often than not, it’s he who comes to remind _me_ to eat when I’ve grown too focused on something to notice the time. I am not Tony’s champion. He saves himself.”

Silence. Tony blinked stupidly as Steve turned back to him, that tight fierceness unraveling just enough for him to reach out and take Tony’s hand. He still had no idea why Steve was so fired up, but it seemed to cement the raw sincerity in his voice. For a blessed moment, the entire studio was still.

Diane finally managed to clear her throat and smile. “Well!” she said. “You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen! When we return,” Tony caught a man rapidly waving his hand in the universal signal to hurry up, “we’ll be speaking with author Tess Gerritsen on her new novel _Broken Time_. Thank you for joining us today, Captain. Tony,” she said, and reached out her hand to shake. Steve still gripped Tony’s left hand tightly with his right, to it was up to Tony to take her hand in his. He smiled blithely, as if nothing had nearly gone horribly wrong. “Glad to be here, Diane. It’s been a pleasure, as always.”

Her smile was a bit brittle. Tony couldn’t blame her. Being on the receiving end of Captain America’s ire was always daunting. Especially since, when she kept her hand outstretched for a moment, Steve made absolutely no move to take it. She dropped it just before it turned too awkward. She cleared her throat again before tapping the chair with her pinky finger – the signal to enter small talk as the music rolled for the segue to advertisements. Tony gamely took it up, bringing his free hand up and talking gamely about the network’s latest ratings.

The conversation continued  somehow, likely only because both he and she were desperate for anything to appear normal. After a bit, one of the cameramen called out, “all right!” The conversation was dropped mid-sentence. “We have a three minute break,” the man continued, “then we’ll pick it up with Miss Gerritsen.”

Steve stood immediately. Even faster than Diane could slump, and she started doing so almost as soon as the clear was given. Tony stood, as well, his heart rate picking up despite his efforts at control. He hadn’t thought Steve would be so angry. “Steve?”

That was all it took, apparently. The hesitation Tony had held back in front of the cameras, and then Steve was sighing, his shoulders slumping as he turned closer to Tony, his body nearly curling over him. Steve didn’t let go of his hand or turn from his gaze as he spoke, even though his words were clearly for Diane. “I’m not with Tony because I see he's drunk too much or needs to eat, and he’s not with me because I miraculously 'healed’ him. We are more than that. And I’m so very tired of people making such assumptions about us. About _him_. I’m tired of being told I’m amazing for putting up with him, or that I 'rein him in,’ or that he’s so much better now that he’s with me. If we _are_ better, it’s not because I’m fixing him. It’s because, when we’re together, we bring about better versions of ourselves. That’s all.”

And suddenly Tony realized that, while he’d been hearing that one little gem of a rumor, and had flagged down the worst of the rumors against Steve… perhaps Steve had been hearing others. Had been flagging down the ones most cruel to Tony. Both of them protecting each other.

His heart hammered even harder against his ribs. He couldn’t find his breath. Love was painful when it burst so suddenly. As if his heart had gone nova.

Tony smiled, bright and warm and bursting like fire. As always, it seemed to captivate Steve. “My hero,” Tony said, and Steve curled in a bit closer. Rogers rolled those baby blue eyes, but he was infinitely gentle when he pulled Tony in for a kiss.

The show ran a behind-the-scenes look of the episode on its website. It went viral in about three days, got the show itself rave reviews. It even got some air time on several news channels.

And in less than a week, the rumor, and, Steve told him, its more vilifying neighbors, had all but disappeared.


End file.
